If there's one thing Nicole Kidman loves, it's accent work (see: The Undoing). And her performance in Hulu's new miniseries is no exception. Seriously, Nicole Kidman's accent in the Nine Perfect Strangers trailer is a mystery wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in a slight Australian bent.
Kidman stars in the new series, another adaptation of a Liane Moriarty novel, as Masha, a mysterious, glamorous, self-help/wellness guru who hosts a retreat for nine specially chosen guests. In one week, she'll force her extremely recognizable guests — Melissa McCarthy, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Shannon, and Luke Evans, to name a few — to face their fears and confront their issues through disturbing "wellness" exercises, like digging their own graves and lying in them. Fun!
But the creepy activities teased in the Nine Perfect Strangers trailer are nothing compared to the confounding origin of Masha's accent. "You want to get well? You want to heal? Surrender yourself to me," Kidman purrs at one point, managing to sound both vaguely foreign and vaguely Australian. (It's truly the Kidman way.)
Seriously...what is this? I've watched the trailer a few times, and as best as I can determine, it sounds like her accent Eastern European, or at the very least trying for Eastern European. So, is she Polish? Russian? According to the Nine Perfect Strangers book Wikipedia page, Masha is Russian, though there are no other details about her character. Hmm... Russian, OK, let's take another listen.
You can hear the Russian in how she pronounces "Tranquillum House," specifically the light rolling of the "r." But then, by the time she gets to the end message, "This is going to be a wonderful journey," she sort of abandons the Russian accent entirely, returning to the Australian accent we know and love.
Look, it's true that accents aren't necessarily consistent. It can vary from word to word, especially in people who are fluent in multiple languages. But hearing a Russian woman to sometimes speak with an Australian accent is pretty jarring. Still, this is Nicole Kidman we're talking about. Half the fun is seeing when she'll slip up!
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Image: Hulu/YouTube